A perfect brunch and a grown-up bar
A perfect brunch and a grown-up bar
Early to Rise, best brunches, Noe Valley, caviar tastings, The Snug, Sea Ranch Lodge, Hermosa Beach, Tim Robinson, MORE
RESTAURANTS • First Word
Artisanal brunch
NoPa newcomer Early to Rise is the perfect place to bring people who love brunch — and might even win over a few who wouldn’t usually be caught dead ordering eggs Benedict and mimosas at 10:30a on Sunday. The trick? Chef/owner Andrew McCormack and his team apply an artisan sensibility, casting the often-maligned weekend meal in a new light.
McCormack spent years working fine dining in New York and San Francisco before launching Early to Rise as a roving pop-up. Eight years later, he’s settled into a permanent space, on a bucolic corner of McCallister and Baker Streets. The airy dining room is designed for maximum weekend flow, with a long counter for solo diners and couples, rows of banquettes for four-to-six tops, and a few tables for larger parties.
On a recent Saturday at noon, the restaurant was full of young families and bloody-Mary-sipping weekend warriors, but it didn’t take long to snag a seat at the back counter. In addition to a few starters like donuts, bagels, and tangerine pudding, the menu includes six main courses, all traditional brunch dishes except for the “samusa potato pancake.” The most important detail on the menu is listed at the bottom: “Early to Rise proudly makes all of our charcuterie, preserves, hot sauces, bagels, and other breads by hand.”
Every component of the “Up & at ‘Em” combo was perfectly cooked, from custardy scrambled eggs to fluffy buttermilk pancakes. But the bacon stole the show, striking a perfect four-quadrant balance: sweet and savory, chewy and crisp. I’d be surprised if there was better bacon anywhere in San Francisco. On the vegetarian side of things, that samusa pancake was heavily spiced, garnished with squiggles of lime yogurt and tamarind — a real flavor bomb, nicely offset by an earthy roasted carrot salad. Order it for the table.
Midway through the meal, McCormack stopped by to check in and explain that the samusa pancake was actually a nod to one of his favorite dishes at Clement Street icon Burma Superstar. He also dropped by every other table around me for a brief, mid-meal chat. This practice is likely a carryover from the chef’s days in fine dining. It’s a nice flourish, but moreover, drives home the chef-driven nature of this new operation as not-just-another-brunch-spot.
One month in, Early to Rise still feels slightly under the radar. But if the concept of hyper-artisanal brunch sounds appealing, visit sooner than not. The crowds are coming. –Greg Morabito
→ Early to Rise (NoPa) • 1801 McAllister St • Mon-Fri 8a-2p, Sat-Sun 8a-3p • No reservations.
RESTAURANTS • The Nines
Brunch
Kitchen Story (Castro), often-sunny and always buzzing corner famous for ‘Millionaire's Bacon’
Front Porch (Mission/Bernal), Southern staples with sneaky-great wine and cocktail list
Outerlands (Sunset, above), Ocean Beach breezes over an epic Dutch pancake
Zazie (Cole Valley), for Benedict eight ways
Chloe's (Noe Valley), cash-only for classics made in spectacular fashion
Rose's Cafe (Cow Hollow), for breakfast pizza with ham, smoked fontina & eggs
Yank Sing (Soma), dim sum staple that takes reservations
Mama's on Washington Square (North Beach), long lines for a M'omelette
Foreign Cinema (Mission), ‘weekend picnic’ of farm-to-table fare, including oysters
Additions or subtractions? Hit reply or found@itsfoundsf.com.
SF RESTAURANT LINKS: Anticipated Thai tasting menu spot Hed11 opens Friday in Japantown • In Western Addition, Che Fico Alimanteri closing May 9, Che Fico proper taking over the space • SoMa location of Saison Cellar & Wine Bar plots June debut • The mystery of Michael Mina • Was California’s wine revolution just a mirage?
REAL ESTATE • On the Market
Checking boxes in Noe Valley
Only 14 single-family homes are currently listed in Noe Valley, where 83 houses traded in 2023 at a median price of $2.4M, per Compass. (That’s 53% above the citywide median of $1.568M.) The neighborhood also commanded a price per square foot premium, $1322 versus $967 across the rest of the city. Here, three listings that hit the market this spring, two just north of that median price and one asking 2x for 360-degree views:
→ 4258 26th St. (Noe Valley, above) • 5BR/4.1BA, 3854 SF house • Ask: $5.495M • full-width primary suite and glass-lined great room • Days on market: 40 • Agent: The Swann Group, Coldwell Banker.
→ 254 28th St. (Noe Valley) • 5BR/4BA, 2775 SF house • Ask: $2.995M (original ask: $3.195 on 2/23) • Edwardian with details • Days on market: 68 • Agent: Robin Hubinsky, Vanguard Properties.
→ 1609 Castro St (Noe Valley) • 4BR/3BA house • Ask: $2.995M • rebuilt Victorian with two levels of outdoor space • Days on market: 27 • Agent: Ivor Collins, Corcoran Icon.
SF WORK AND PLAY LINKS: WORK AND PLAY: San Francisco luxury housing market comes back to life • Across McCovey Cove, China Basin Park opens and leasing begins at new residential tower Verde • SF’s office prices may have hit bottom • Inside the San Francisco Decorators Showcase at Bliss Estate in Pacific Heights.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Microdoses
Michael Pollan and Mina Kim In Conversation, Zellerbach Playhouse (Berkeley), Fri @ 530p, main left, $40 per
I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson, The Masonic (Nob Hill), Fri @ 730p, floor B, $308 per
Seal, Mountain Winery (Saratoga), Sun @ 730p, section 3, $182 per
WORK • Wednesday Routine
Sturgeon general
ALI & MARAI BOLOURCHI • president and VP • Tsar Nicoulai Caviar
Neighborhood/City you live in: Alamo
It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
It's almost Mother’s Day, which we consider to be the calm before one of the many waves we get throughout the year. After dropping the kids off at school, we arrive with coffee in hand, ready to tackle emails and calendars. At around 10 a.m., Ali gets a briefing on important orders that he’ll need to select caviar for. Marai checks in with our sales reps and other team members about sales, feedback, new accounts, potential collaborations, and product ideas.
What’s on the agenda for today?
Marai’s working on marketing for our Mother's Day caviar bundle. Ali will be heading to the farm for an early farm tour with some Sacramento legislators, Sac Farm Bureau members, and business supporters, who will learn about our 84 sturgeon tanks, our sustainability and conservation efforts at the hatchery, and our state-of-the-art smokers.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
Tomorrow, Marai is leading a caviar tasting at Domaine Carneros that will take place before their caviar dinner. We have a wonderful friendship and partnership with Domaine Carneros that spans two decades. This weekend, we’re celebrating Ali's birthday at SF’s Movida Lounge, which I’ve been wanting to try for a long time. The food is Persian-Mexican, which is a representation of our home. We always joke that if the caviar business didn’t work out, we would open a Persian-Mexican food truck.
How about a little leisure or culture?
Everything we do revolves around food, and we love supporting local restaurants. Some of our favorites: Main Street (Walnut Creek), Piatti (Danville), Blue Line (Danville), Revel (Danville), and Isola Oseteria (Danville). We also enjoy gardening together. The kids have fun getting down and dirty, and love seeing the fruits of their labor throughout the summer.
What was your last great vacation?
We went to Hermosa Beach for spring break this year. We always stay at Beach House, which is steps from the beach. It’s also conveniently next to Good Stuff, which has the best Bloody Marys and zucchini fries in town. And when in Hermosa Beach, you must go to RYLA for coastal Cali fare with Japanese flavors.
BARS • First Round
Growing up in Pacific Heights
Since 2017, The Snug’s been a reliable Fillmore Street fixture, an unpretentious place to grab a beer and some bar snacks. Towards the end of 2023, it went dark — not forever, but for a remodel, from a post-collegiate hang into... something more sophisticated. A bar that grows up with its patrons? So it seems.
A driving force for this maturation is Maxwell Salvati, a former film student who turned his obsession with framing and plot into Kubrick-level cocktail prep. He was behind the bar when The Snug first opened before decamping for the Linden Room, and later, Cole Valley Tavern. Now he’s come home to rebuild Snug 2.0’s cocktail program, one heavy on unexpected, seasonal ingredients married with classic spirits. Exhibit A: the Buzz Button, which pairs corn whiskey with bee pollen honey and buzz buttons, a pins-and-needles-inducing flower. It’s part of a deeply weird lineup of drinks that (somehow) doesn’t feel belabored.
The Snug’s food remains unchanged from its beer-slinging days — small plates like pork belly buns and crispy brussels sprouts, burgers, and a spicy chicken sandwich. But the team behind The Snug are also behind the newish oyster bar down the street, Little Shucker. Management hints that someday soon, a Shucker influence might spill over. Grown-up food for a grown-up bar. –Eve Batey
→ The Snug (Pacific Heights) · 2301 Fillmore St · Mon 4p-9p, Tues-Thurs 4p-11p, Fri 4p-12a, Sat 12p-12a, Sun 12-9p.
GETAWAYS • Sonoma
Wood and water
Last summer, historic Sea Ranch Lodge completed a multi-year renovation, giving travelers yet another reason to visit the idyllic Sonoma coast community it anchors.
Incorporated in the 1960s with the notion of “living lightly on the land,” Sea Ranch comprises 10 miles of rugged coastline, redwood forest, and hundreds of distinctive timber-framed homes designed to meld with its surroundings. The oasis for nature, design, and architecture heads is a hundred miles up the coast from San Francisco, but the trip’s well worth it.
Rooms at the revamped lodge are decked in red cedar, oak, and fir, with plush furniture and big windows looking out onto the Pacific. In place of TVs, a fireplace, a set of binoculars, and a pair of walking sticks. Outside, the coastal bluff trail winds past tide pools, windswept flora, and clusters of private homes.
The Lodge is also home to a bar, lounge, restaurant, and café, the only food and drinking establishments in Sea Ranch proper. If one tires of the middle-of-the-road fare, there’s a trusty seafood shack one town north in Gualala, in addition to a weekend barbecue stand outside Surf Market.
With its cozy, convivial atmosphere (the bar’s a popular haunt for locals), the Lodge is a fitting shelter for first-time visitors. For return visitors, a Sea Ranch home rental to fully immerse in the pleasures of this tranquilizing community might better do the trick. –Emily Wilson
→ The Sea Ranch Lodge (Sea Ranch, CA) • 60 Sea Walk Dr.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Taking stock of the real estate scene at The Sea Ranch • Quince vet opening Violetto, new tasting menu spot in St. Helena • Vineyard in Paso Robles hits the market for $7M • Michelin releases first class of hotel ‘Key’ ratings, seven of top 11 in California • North America’s 50 Best Bars 2024 drops, 2 of top 50 are in San Francisco • Six Senses Kyoto debuts.
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